A blockbuster, rollercoaster year at Galatasaray - but eyes are firmly on Super Lig No.23

A club drenched in divine history and heritage, Galatasaray are the most successful club in Turkey. They have won more Super Lig titles (22), more Turkish Cups (17) and more European trophies (2) than anyone else. Their rivalry with city neighbours Fenerbahçe is arguably unrivalled around the world, and although they may believe they are bigger than Galatasaray, the numbers currently suggest they would be wrong.

The relentless pride that Galatasaray fans feel is evident the moment you begin to leave the nearest metro station to their Nef Stadium. You know you have arrived in an area glistening with pure footballing culture. Pictures cover the walls along the tunnel, depicting the greatest moments in the club’s history. Their UEFA Cup victory in 2000, when they beat an Arsenal team with Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira in it, stands out. The only Turkish team to ever win a European title, which they soon doubled when they beat Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup months later.

All this is exactly why the 2021/22 season was so damaging and devastating for all those involved.

Last campaign, ‘Cimbom’ finished in 13th place, their lowest-ever finish in league history. It was a disastrous failure, matched by the antics that went on off the pitch and the politics involving the manager Fatih Terim.

Fatih Terim (69) is the greatest figure in the history of Turkish football. This is not an over-exaggeration for the sake of dramatic effect. Nicknamed the ‘Emperor’, there is no person who has had a larger impact on the beautiful game in the country.

His resume is simply spectacular and unmatched. He took Turkey to their first ever European Championships in 1996, and got to the semi-finals of Euro 2008 with a simply inspirational run full of awe-inspiring comebacks and heroics. His achievements at Galatasaray are also astonishing. In four different stints at the helm between 1996 and 2021, he won eight Super Lig titles, four Turkish Cups, five Turkish Super Cups, and was the man who guided them to their European successes. His Champions League achievement in 2013, in which they bowed out in noble fashion in the quarter-finals despite beating Real Madrid 3-2 in the second leg, was revered by the Galatasaray faithful.

He wasn’t a half-bad player either. Despite somehow never winning a league title during his eleven years at the club, he was their captain and leader, a true warrior, and embodied Galatasaray on the pitch. He did win three Turkish Cups and a Super Cup, during a period where they weren’t as strong as they were soon to become.

His man-management skills are unparalleled by anyone, and his ability to grind the best out of all his players is second to none. His warm and friendly, yet ruthless and demanding personality gives him the perfect blend to assert authority over those who play for him. You will not find any former player ushering a bad word about him.

He still gets along with many of them to this day to the point of good friendships, with Didier Drogba frequently visiting the 69-year-old in Turkey, while Gheorghe Hagi is also on close terms.

In the recently released Netflix documentary, ‘Terim’ - which is frankly a must-watch for any football fan - the current Galatasaray manager Okan Buruk (more on him later) spoke about an interaction he had with Terim when he played under him over two decades ago.

“As a player, I used to like to keep the ball. I wouldn’t pass it so easily. One day, I kept it again. I kicked once, kicked twice, went on trying a third kick, so I kind of messed up and lost the ball,” he said.

Terim continued to recount the story: “I said, ‘Okan, pass it to the first person you see’. He continued to keep it as was his habit. I got mad.

“I asked the ball boy for another ball and said, ‘Okan, you play with this!’.

Okan resumed: “He gave the other ball to the team and the game continued. One ball at my feet, another on the field.

“I wasn’t offended at all! Because on the field, you need to submit to the manager. Especially during the first few days and early weeks, there can be some messages that the manager wants to convey. Sometimes they do it through a single player, and sometimes through the whole team.

“The manager gave his message loud and clear that day, to me and everyone else on the team.”

An insight into how Terim managed, but also how massively respected he was.

A man with supreme dignity, pride and passion, he is adored by Galatasaray fans to an extent that cannot be explained. He has a spot in all of their hearts, and he is genuinely infallible to them. His love for the club knows no bounds either.

But his greatest strength is perhaps linked to his greatest weakness. His core beliefs and stubbornness have led to him falling out with several presidents and people in higher positions than him. When at Fiorentina, he fell out with owner Vittorio Cecchi Gori after he wanted more input in the team, and once demanded to be let into the dressing room during a game, to which Terim firmly said no.

“When you talk about the locker room, it’s a place where you’re cleansed of everything, where you’re completely vulnerable,” Terim said in his documentary.

“You’re supposed to cut off any distractions, both physical and mental. And truly, everyone becomes clean of all emotions. This place's privacy has been very important to me."

Staggeringly, he resigned from his position due to his beliefs, forfeting any compensation he would have been paid. Fans were left furious and devasted by his departure after he took them to the Coppa Italia final, which they would go on to win.

In 2013, he also fell out with Galatasaray owner Ünal Aysal - despite winning two league titles and reaching the Champions League quarter-finals - when he called Terim ‘a staff member’.

Also five years ago, he was sacked as manager of Turkey after getting involved in a massive brawl in his son-in-law's restaurant, leading to five people getting injured.

"I make mistakes, and I live with those mistakes," he said. "That's something we all deal with. I usually act a little hastily, and I'll pay the price, that's just something that comes with the territory.

"I'll never wish ill on anyone, but I will always protect my closest friends and family".

Resolute in his principles, those he loves most will always come first, even if this involves getting physical. Tony Soprano, anyone?

Keep all this in mind for what is to come.

The 2021/22 season started with the newly elected Galatasaray President Burak Elmas announcing that Terim had penned a three-year contract. In Turkey, the Presidents are voted in by a fan group, and Elmas had gathered so much support as he was one of the few to guarantee that Terim would be there for his whole tenure.

Part of his and Terim’s plan for their time together was to diverge from their typical transfer plans of signing top players towards the end of their careers. Hagi, Drogba, Wesley Sneijder and Radamel Falcao are all examples of this over the years. This was potentially due to the lack of funds and Galatasaray suffering financially in the few years prior. As a result, they signed younger players with eyes on the future.

After getting rid of Falcao, Galatasaray signed young midfielders Alexandru Cicâldău (25) and Olimpiu Moruțan (23), alongside Sacha Boey (22) and Victor Nelsson (23).

The season proved to be a real struggle for many reasons. Firstly, their key defender Marcão was suspended for six matches after attacking Kerem Aktürkoğlu in training.

Foreshadowing at its finest.

After being knocked out of the Champions League in the qualifying stage by Rangers, they plummeted down the league table with poor result after poor result. By January, they were just three points outside the relegation zone.

However, they managed to finish top of their Europa League group, which consisted of Marseille, Lazio and Lokomotiv Moscow, with a number of superb performances.

Incredibly, Terim still had the support of most fans. Many strongly believed that this was a project after all, and bumps were expected. Only a few saw the other side of the argument though - that he was outdated and his methods were no longer effective.

So when Terim was sacked on January 10th 2022, there was uproar, solely directed at Elmas. Fans were adamant that Elmas had stabbed Terim in the back. He promised him time to rebuild the squad, something he had not been given.

This was made even worse by the appointment of Pep Guardiola’s former assistant Domènec Torrent. The fact of the matter is that he was fighting a losing battle from day one. Replacing Terim is one of the toughest jobs out there, and when your biggest claim to fame is being an assistant, you are pretty much doomed.

And what rubbed salt into the wounds was the manner of the appointment. It had been revealed that Elmas was initially planning on appointing Torrent as Terim’s assistant, in an attempt to modernise Galatasaray while also keeping their club legend.

This was a disaster of gigantic proportions. The sheer magnitude of this decision meant that Torrent and Elmas had absolutely no support from any of the fans. After a 13th place finish and failure in the Turkish cup, as well as a round of 16 Europa League defeat to Barcelona, both the manager and President lost their jobs at the end of the season.

A woeful campaign ended in the most fitting way possible. Fatih Terim had been thrown overboard, but he made sure he was taking down everyone else with him. This is his ship, and if it crashes, it crashes in the way he wants it to.

That brings us to this season.

Dursun Özbek was elected President for the second time after a stint between 2015 and 2018. His first act was appointing Galatasaray legend Okan Buruk (48) as manager (I did promise he would come up again).

Terim’s legacy is imprinted all over Turkish football, and this is seen with the current crop of managers. Many of them are former players who played for Terim.  Emre Belözoğlu and Buruk are examples of this, while Sergen Yalçın also managed Besiktas up until he was sacked in 2021.

Buruk has coached a number of clubs in Turkey, winning the Turkish Cup with Akhisarspor in 2018, just their second-ever trophy.

In 2020, he took İstanbul Başakşehir to their first league title but was sacked at the start of the following year after enduring a tough few months. But due to his stature at the club, Buruk had the support of Galatasaray fans from the get-go. And so far, he has made a very good impression.

Buruk is a true disciple of Terim. He has imprinted an aggressive and front-foot style of play, similar to that of his former coach.

In this campaign, Galatasaray have the highest xG in the Super Lig at 2.37 and are also averaging the most shots per 90 minutes (17.71). They have only scored nine goals, purely down to the fact that they are missing a ruthless number nine, and last season’s best player Aktürkoğlu has been out of form. But regardless, their performances have been a stark contrast to last year.

Two of their standout stars have been Boey and Nelsson, who as we know, signed for Terim the previous season as part of their new project. Perhaps it wasn't totally a bad idea after all.

However, Torrent deemed the former surplus to requirements and sent him to train with the reserves at the end of the last campaign, but he has been a rejuvenated figure – a testament to the new manager.

Buruk has been very good, but it is frankly impossible to look past the startling, blockbuster summer transfer window they just had.

How did they get around their dire financial situation?

First and foremost, they sold one of their best players Marcão to Sevilla for around 16 million euros. This put them instantly in an advantageous position. They also managed to get rid of a number of assets on their books, including Romanian pair Moruțan and Cicâldău, who failed to deliver at the club.

Galatasaray's transfer dealings have been impressively shrewd. They have found a good balance between signing younger players, those in their prime, and the tried and trusted formula of signing older superstars dwindling yet still somewhat shining at the twilight of their careers.

Former Napoli talisman Dries Mertens (35) and ex-Chelsea and Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata (34) signed on free deals. Lucas Torreira (26) joined from Arsenal and has been their unsung hero thus far, while the 19-year-old and once very highly-rated Yusuf Demir joined for six million euros, and has shown some quality in brief cameos.

The technically gifted midfield controller Sergio Oliveira signed for 3 million euros, and one of the best centre-backs in Turkey last season, Abdülkerim Bardakcı, also came in to replace Marcão for around the same fee. Former Norwich City man Milot Rashica was a loan signing.

These were all extremely wily and impactful deals that have made Galatasaray a force yet again, but one signing stands out above the rest.

At under 30 years old, Mauro Icardi (29) became the poster boy for the Turkish side’s transfer splurge. Once seen as one of the world’s most destructive penalty box strikers, and a potential global superstar, off-the-field problems and a tendency to find himself on the front page of newspapers have hampered his career heavily.

With drama involving his wife and, yes, agent (I don’t understand either) Wanda Nora, he severely struggled for game time at Paris Saint-Germain and the French side were desperate to get him out of the club.

So desperate in fact, that they were willing to pay a scarcely believable 90% of his wages while on loan at Galatasaray. As a result, Cimbom are only paying 750,000 euros for him. A brilliant piece of business, summing up their jaw-dropping window.

He has played one game so far for the club. He came off the bench, got into a scuffle with the opposition resulting in Konyaspor goalkeeper Ibrahim Šehić being sent off, and pressured a defender into scoring a match-winning own goal.

Just a normal day in the office for the enigmatic, mercurial and wildly unpredictable Mauro Icardi. But you can be sure, that the Turkish fans will absolutely adore him.

If they can get the best out of him, they will have a sensational game-changer up top, and he can be the man to solve some of their goalscoring struggles.

All of this has resulted in Galatasaray being perched in second place in the Super Lig. An inspired Adana Demirspor currently sits on top, and the two sides meet straight after the international break on October 1st. That day is set to be mouth-watering, with Galatasaray’s biggest rivals Fenerbahce and Besiktas also locking horns.

It has been a rollercoaster, soap opera-like 12 months for Galatasaray. From sinking to the lowest of lows, they are targeting the highest of highs, and positive vibes are being exuded from the club once more.

Football is fickle, especially in the volatile world of Turkish football, and Okan Buruk will know that as well as anyone but his eyes will be firmly set on the prize of the Super Lig title.

He is well aware that for Galatasaray, success is simply defined as winning. Nothing more, nothing less, and it is foolish to think otherwise.